First Days

Ikaria Sunrise
Sunrise over the Aegean Sea.
This is our first daylight view of Ikaria.

Our rental is locked and dark when we arrive in the village at 1am in the morning, and a brother and sister named Lambros and Athina eventually come to retrieve us and give us a room for the night. This view is from their patio.

Lambros and Athina Patio
This is Lambros and Athina’s patio.

There are trees throughout Magganitis that are pruned in this fashion. They have a sparse growing habit, and pruning them like this forces them to grow back more densely in the spring and provide better shade in the hot summer months.

Image of Alek Studios
Our home for the next several months

We are renting a downstairs room in this building. Because there are almost no tourists here during the winter, we have the patio to ourselves. Even many of the Greeks who live here now go to Athens or elsewhere to work or spend winter with their families. Ikaria is undergoing a transition from a place people permanently live to a place people use for summer vacation.

Alek Studios Patio
The patio outside our room
Tiny House
Just below our patio is a very small house, with a separate toilet in the shed to the right. It is vacant, but may get rented out in the summer when tourism increases.
Orange Cats at Alek Studios
These cats visit us every morning
Kittens
None of the cats in Magganitis appear to be spayed or neutered.
Big Jar of Honey
Two kilos of Greek honey. Most of my daily calories come from here.
Yes Fairy
Shopping is always more entertaining when traveling!

Pasta Butt

Feta
The Greeks are serious about feta.
Feta Planter
And the containers get recycled.
Wild Samphire
Gathering wild edible samphire, which grows on rocks near the sea.
Cactus Fruit
Prickly Pear
Cutting Cactus
The locals show us how to cut and eat prickly pear fruit
Port
The port at Magganitis. Most of the boats have been taken back up into town for the winter.

Port

Shore

Fishing is important here in Magganitis, and a large portion of the village’s men have sailing and fishing experience. Up until 1985, Magganitis was only connected to other towns by sea.

Shore
The shoreline east of Magganitis

 

 

 

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